Porous poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) nanoarray used for flexible supercapacitor

• Porous PEDOT nanoarray was fabricated by a controlled electropolymerization process.
• PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid showed high specific capacitance and cyclic stability.
• Flexible supercapacitor was constructed using PEDOT-TiN electrode and gel electrode.

Porous poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) nanoarray used for flexible supercapacitor has been prepared to investigate its electrochemical capacitance performance. Well-aligned titania (TiO2) and titanium nitride (TiN) nanotube array was fabricated by an anodization, crystallization, nitridation processes. PEDOT-TiO2 and PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid was fabricated by coating PEDOT on nanotube walls of TiO2 and TiN through a pulse voltammetry electrodeposition process. PEDOT nanopore array was fabricated through HF corrosion of TiN from PEDOT-TiN. The morphology and microstructure of PEDOT-TiO2, PEDOT-TiN and PEDOT were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The electrochemical capacitance was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements. PEDOT-TiO2 and PEDOT-TiN showed heterogeneous coaxial nanotube structure. PEDOT exhibited free-standing nanopore array structure. The specific capacitance of PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid was determined to be 393.1 F g−1 at a current density of 1.0 mA cm−2, presenting much higher capacitance than PEDOT-TiO2 nanoarray hybrid (128.7 F g−1) and PEDOT nanopore array (109.3 F g−1). All-solid-state flexible supercapacitor was constructed using supple electrode of PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid and polyvinyl alcohol gel electrolyte of sulphuric acid. The volume specific capacitance, energy and power density were determined to be 4.08 F cm−3, 2.26 mW h cm−3 and 250 mW cm−3 at a high output voltage of 2.0 V and a current density of 10 mA cm−2. PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid exhibited the effective energy storage in flexible supercapacitor application.

Well-tailored PEDOT-TiN nanoarray hybrid was used as an electroactive electrode material to construct all-solid-state flexible supercapacitor.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide